Racecar to Honor Lycoming County Veteran

MONTOURSVILLE – A veteran from Lycoming County says he can’t wait to get to the track in the Poconos this weekend to take a look at the Kurt Busch Racecar. Private First Class David Sauter will have his name on it and he can only hope it makes its way into Victory Lane.

Cindy Sauter of Montoursville said her son – Private First Class David Sauter served his country and made her proud for eight long years. She believes for this veteran – it was all about adventure.

“He was my wild child as far as doing things, as far as getting into many different adventures and I thought wow, this is a great adventure for him,” said Cindy Sauter.

PFC Sauter was deployed to Iraq while serving with the Army Reserves out of York, Pennsylvania. He encountered an IED attack and escaped without being hurt.

“It was, at first it was a shock because when you go to a different country it`s, you don`t know what to expect, you don`t know anything that happens,” said David Sauter.

Now the Army Veteran and big race fan is being honored for his service in a very special way.

Sauter’s name will be on the Kurt Busch 78 car at this weekend’s race: Party in the Poconos 400.

Sauter says as a life-time racing fan, this is a dream come true.

“That`d be cool if Kurt could win because then my name would be on a victory lane celebration car and that would be probably an honor,” said David Sauter.

David will packing up the car and traveling to Long Pond for the race this weekend and if you have any question of how much this means to have his name on racing car just look at all the stickers on the back of his.

“That`s pretty cool, we`ve been a race family for quite a while,” said Cindy Sauter.

His fiance wrote to the Armed Forces Organization who is partnering with NASCAR and Kurt Busch to make this all possible.

Sauter says other Vets can be honored or remembered at other races if they submit their story online.

“I think it would be an honor to anybody you know that if they put their family`s name on there, especially if they were a racing fan even if not,” said David Sauter.

David’s mother says it’s a small special way to reach out to those who gave up so much serving our country.

“Nowadays I think people are realizing that these guys really did something for our country,” said Cindy Sauter.

Sauter says there’s no guarantee he will get to meet Kurt Busch or one of his other favorite drivers Jimmy Johnson, but either way Sauter says the race will be an experience of a lifetime.